Favorite players of all time and why ?

[Lakeeffectgolf]

Tommy Bolt.

[Lakeeffectgolf]

Tommy Bolt, Met the guy on a golf course years ago. Had no idea who he was. Nice Man. Very funny.

[aarbro]

Corey Pavin - my first memory of golf was him winning the US Open.

Fred Couples - my dad liked watching him, so naturally I did too.

Tiger - his first masters win was when I was 9, and I started to really get into golf from here. So I grew up with him winning every week.

Always liked Phil.

I'm a fan of Jason Day, as I'm an Aussie.

 

From yesteryear, I like Arnie. Watched a number of docos and interviews with him and he just seems like a larger than life character, that would also be happy to sit down and have a chat with you.

[Your-away!]

My top 3

 

Ben Hogan - Greatest swinger of a golf club of all time

 

Seve - Most charismatic golfer of all time.

 

Sergio - Flawed genius

[playa]

My top 3

 

Ben Hogan - Greatest swinger of a golf club of all time

 

Seve - Most charismatic golfer of all time.

 

Sergio - Flawed genius

Putting Sergio in that company is very generous.

[playa]

Ball striking was Trevino...hands down. Annoying as hell to be around, but, ball striking was superb. We could call out a shot to him, during his swing & then he'd hit it. I don't want to hear any Moe Norman BS, either.

 

All players who came before tech & drugs took over the game were the greatest players. The Nicklaus, Miller, Trevino era was the last era when pure talent could beat average talent matched to tech.

 

Sometime in the early eighties there was an interview with Ed Snead where he showed three irons from the same set in his bag. He explained where the sweet spot was on each. One was near the center, one 1/2" (approx.) toward the toe & one 1/2" toward the heel. You could see where he had been striking the ball on each of the clubs & how he was able to repeatedly hit the sweet spot on each; regardless of its' location. That, my friends, is why the Nicklaus era was the last & greatest. A time when talent could beat a goon matched to tech.

I have my own personal thoughts on the Moe Norman legend being somewhat out of sync with the reality, but your comments have piqued my interest.

[Your-away!]

My top 3

 

Ben Hogan - Greatest swinger of a golf club of all time

 

Seve - Most charismatic golfer of all time.

 

Sergio - Flawed genius

Putting Sergio in that company is very generous.

 

These are my favorite players, players i would pay money to watch, not necessarily the best players

[Outlier]

#1- Vijay Singh - 3 reasons: the STONES; nobody worked harder at golf; appropriately said "kiss my black arse"

 

#2- Tiger - the GOAT

 

#3- Lucas Glover - was super nice to my kid, took photo to go along with a pic at Lucas Glover Way.

[Forged4ever]

~ Pete Snead..All-Time Fave Pro

~ Sam...#1 All~Time Fave Tour Boy

~ Arnold Palmer...#1A All-Fave Tour Boy

~ Jack...GOAT

~ Patrick Burke(RangersGoalie)..#1 All-Time Fave Tour Boy that I've never met :)

 

Later Ed: I forgot this one but this is a tie for Male Pros that I most enjoyed waking up next to in bed the next morning...John Daly and Pat Perez, though I give Daly a slight edge cuz he made an incredible omelet, and all Perez did was batch about how crappy the mattress was ;)

 

Madison is of course the female Pro :)

 

Have a Great week Gals & Gents?

 

My Best,

RP

[tap in birdie]

Palmer

Trevino

Seve

Tiger

Mickelson

 

And to keep it modern:

Reed & Rahn

 

[deadsolid...shank]

Always have been a Jack fan. Always will be.

 

I'm one of the few who was more of a Tiger fan off the course. I loved watching what he could do, but to me, tournament golf wasn't exciting. If he was ahead going into Sunday you might as well not watch. Seldom did anyone challenge him. Just no Sunday drama.

 

Always like Freddie a lot. So cool and casual. It disappointing to continue to hear reports that he's kind of an Word not allowed on the course.

[gvogel]

Tom Watson. I always admired his no-nonsense golf swing, and his fast play. He was always my favorite.... before Rory.

[sonny crocket]

Jay Don Blake

[RichieHunt]

Nicklaus - I loved almost every sport as a kid and golf appealed to me and I just started playing it in 1986. I remember my dad and I along with some friends of ours at the course were talking about who kid win the Masters after the Saturday round. My neighbor barked out 'watch out for Nicklaus' and everybody scoffed at the notion. Then I had the pleasure of watching the final round and Nicklaus' historic run to win the title. It was kinda like watching your dad do something. Or like that episode from The Wonder Years where Kevin is caddying for his Dad's boss and his Dad goes on a tear on the back nine after Kevin makes a snide remark to him. I dunno, it was just an awesome experience.

 

 

Ken Green - Every once in a while there would be pieces on Ken Green and they would be awesome. Like how he would hit balls out of his house thru the bay windows and have to replace the carpet from the divots he would take. How he snuck into Masters with his friends and how they played shots off rental cars. How he got fined for throwing his putter into the Pacific Ocean after a round at Pebble and the gripe he had was that he threw the putter much further than what was claimed. How he basically didn't play golf until college and decided that is what he wanted to do for a living. I always have a soft spot for Ken Green.

 

 

John Daly - Because the 1991 PGA Championship was the most awesome thing ever. I can't describe how incredible that thing was and instantly everybody wanted to play like John. It was a hoot seeing people experiment with their backswing length like Shooter McGavin trying to do the Happy Gilmore. And I just never got that upset about him 'wasting his talent.' I think sometimes people think winning a Tour event is 'easy' and it's anything but that. Just like people that chastised Anna Kournikova for not being the best female tennis player even though for a period she was still a world class tennis player.

 

 

Lee Trevino - I remember him saying that when he was leading his first US Open, he was over by the cart barn eating some lunch by himself. I just think his life story is fascinating and as a player I could identify with him because he didn't take what 'experts' told him at face value. He found out stuff for himself and see if it worked or not.

 

Ben Hogan - I didn't start becoming a fan of his until I was in college and was mesmerized by his swing. It's been a long time since I cared about his swing, but I could respect the man and his effort in anything he did. He had a certain class and dignity about him that only the self made can have.

 

Byron Nelson - I didn't start becoming a fan of his until about 10 years ago when I started to read and talk to people about his philanthropy work. I met a man who knew Mr. Nelson well and he would tell me about how Mr. Nelson would go to the local bank and people would stop and say hello and he would take the time to talk to each person and eventually they would hand him a check for his charity and he would put it right into the charity's funds. He was a great humanitarian that happened to be a great golfer.

 

 

Arnold Palmer - How can you not adore a man that sent a letter back to every single fan that wrote him fan mail and would pay his own postage if they didn't enclose it? And I became a bigger fan of his when I moved to Orlando and saw all of the impact he has had on the city. I just wish I could have seen him play in his prime.

 

 

Seve - I actually used to loathed Seve. It was the Ryder Cup stuff that really drove me nuts. Then as I matured, I realized 'who wouldn't want Seve on their team?' It reminds me of Bill Laimbeer. Sure, you can hate his guts. But, if we had to play a bunch of aliens from a different planet for world domination, I am making it a point to have him on my team. And just like Laimbeer getting into the head of the best player on the alien's squad, I can see Seve rallying the Team Earth to dominate those stupid aliens.

 

 

Jordan Spieth - I'm always amazed by how mature he handles situations and how giving he is. I really think he's the modern day Byron Nelson as a person and as a player. Especially in these days of social media where some jackhole can say something so insulting and it can reach you, he always handles himself with grace.

 

 

Rickie - Just a really good guy and when he's on, a really fun player.

 

 

Jason Day - So, I'm at Bay Hill last year and routinely I'm seeing fans ask if Jason would take a picture with him and he kept saying 'sure, mate.'

 

John Senden - A few years ago I'm at The PLAYERS and it's hot and the range stinks there because there is no bleacher seating for the fans to watch and there's a long row of fans and I see John Senden go up and down the line signing autographs only to see him go up and back again. Again, in the middle of hot May day in Florida. That works for me.

 

 

And having hung around enough of these guys, it's really hard to not be a fan of most of them. I'm not the autograph type either, but so many of them are talented, achievement oriented people that really believe in the charities they work with and want to help grow the game. Sometimes you catch them on a bad day, but the vast majority of them are very down to earth and friendly people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

RH

[Bourni1]

Rory - At his peak is No. 1 in my opinion.

 

Phil - The wizardry around the green, the balls to go for broke, and the attitude towards the fans.

 

Freddy - Pure effortless swing. Played a pro-am with him and could not be a nicer guy. Joe was still on his bag and we spent 18 holes talking baseball, also a class act.

 

Mike Goodes- Also played a Pro-Am with. Did not know who he was coming into the week, but was the nicest guy.

 

Gary Player - Amazing longevity. Saw him offer a clinic for children once, a pure gentleman.

 

José María Olazabal - Loved watching vintage Chema at the Masters.

[Barfolomew]

Rahm....right now he's the dude I wanna see hit over the rest

[imakaveli]

Seve

[BearQ]

Tiger by a landslide. Me and my POC athletes in the 90s, most of us probably never establish a love of the game as kid if TW doesn't dominate like he did.

 

Obviously you come to realize how beautiful of a game it is and how many great players have come and gone afterwards. But Tiger acted as the barrier and gate breaker to open the doors for kids like me.

 

It's a bit of a circus with him now. But if you've watched him play 3 or more tournaments in his prime, you'd never forget unless you have alternative reasons to hate him *wink wink

 

Second place: Jack Nicklaus. After reading in Tigers books how much he respected Jack. I went out and found an original copy of jack Nicklaus golf my way at 12 years old lol. Before YouTube and such, books were the only way to learn if you couldn't afford lessons. Awesome detailed books by both jack and Tiger. Way easier to understand and apply than Hogans 5 - which has probably confused more people than it has helped...

[jonsnow]

Ball striking was Trevino...hands down. Annoying as hell to be around, but, ball striking was superb. We could call out a shot to him, during his swing & then he'd hit it. I don't want to hear any Moe Norman BS, either.

 

All players who came before tech & drugs took over the game were the greatest players. The Nicklaus, Miller, Trevino era was the last era when pure talent could beat average talent matched to tech.

 

Sometime in the early eighties there was an interview with Ed Snead where he showed three irons from the same set in his bag. He explained where the sweet spot was on each. One was near the center, one 1/2" (approx.) toward the toe & one 1/2" toward the heel. You could see where he had been striking the ball on each of the clubs & how he was able to repeatedly hit the sweet spot on each; regardless of its' location. That, my friends, is why the Nicklaus era was the last & greatest. A time when talent could beat a goon matched to tech.

 

Drugs have taken over the game? Please elaborate. :dntknw:

[jonsnow]

My firsts is/was Bobby Jones. What he did in 1930, for me, surpasses anything else in golf. The fact that he was an amateur is slightly debatable, yes he didn't get paid but he was a full time golfer.

But that year! No business class with Virgin or Delta, just a long sea voyage. Then next came the Impregnable Quadrilateral. People talk of Jones being the first (and only) person to complete a Grand Slam, but George Trevor, a New York journalist coined the term "impregnable Quadrilateral" which I much prefer.

I've read about and seen pictures of the crowds at Merion as he completed his "slam". They were huge and everywhere, including the fairways. They were unruly,but respectful; I imagine.

 

My all time is Jack. It should be Faldo because of age and nationality, but I just can't. It should have been Seve, whom I loved eventuality but he was a slow burner. It is Jack, why? I'm not sure.

I'm sure that he doesn't get the credit he deserves. He's no Arnie, growing the game, Arnie's army etc. I don't think that he was as dynamic or exciting as Tiger, much more clinical. Never wore a bill, knickers or flat cap. No tweets or indiscretions.

On reflection it must have been the golf, just simply the supreme quality of the golf.

 

Bobby Jones at Merion. He is in there somewhere.

 

 

That picture is incredible. You could throw a blanket over the entire crowd at a U.S. Amateur today.

[pheenomz4774]

Of all-time? You're going to see a bit of a theme. Since I am also vertically challenged I am a big fan of all the short cans that can bomb it!

 

Rory McIlroy - I just love how he is pound for pound one of the longest hitters of the golf ball. He's never been a lights out putter, but when he's on, he pretty is pretty much unbeatable. He is also very honest, sometimes too honest, but also is able to laugh at himself.

 

Rickie Fowler - I just really like the way he conducts himself. I think its actually harder to be a guy like Rickie and stay true to himself and his style. It's easy to be bold when you win like Tiger or Rory, but to constantly have that attitude even when you're not playing well, or when you don't have the accolades, is cool to watch somebody that self-confident. Also by all anecdotal accounts he's a really genuine person so that's a plus.

 

Anthony Kim - This guy had the confidence of Rickie, and was starting to approach some the talent of Rory. He was the short player that was so cool it didn't matter, kinda like you see those 5'3" guys with women 5'9", they just think they are that boss. He fell off the earth and we only see the rare instagram photo of him now, but for that brief period he was just pure entertainment.

 

Tiger - Just because he put some added enthusiasm into the game. There can be times in golf, where you see a player do something incredible, and their reaction just doesn't seem to fit the difficulty or the moment because we're trained by our elders to have a lot of respect for the game and opponent. Tiger was a person who reacted how "I" would react hitting a 21' foot left to right slider downhill in a major playoff. We see a lot more of it now, but before Tiger I never really noticed much joy in doing the incredible things golfers can do.

[greengolfer54]

Ernie Els...the way he makes the game look so easy...and swing so effortlessly

[llewol007]

For me growing up it was Greg Norman and his damn narrow stance, John Daly because of his past parallel swing, Payne Stewart because of his Knickers, and Tiger Woods because of his sheer dominance when I took up the game. In terms of the game itself, I love Jack Nicklaus because he is the GOAT!, I loved Fred Couples and his damn pause at the top, I love Phil Mickelson because he can still hang with the younger crowd, and I cant forget Vijay Singh for hitting so many damn practice balls.

[Your-away!]

My top 3

 

Ben Hogan - Greatest swinger of a golf club of all time

 

Seve - Most charismatic golfer of all time.

 

Sergio - Flawed genius

 

Now flawed genius with a major..get in SERGIO!! :D